The Chief of Engineering, and acting council for the woman he only knows as “Irons” sat directly across from her on a cold metal chair with a cold metal table between them. The robot, Sasha as she was called, seemed perfectly content to stand nearby and positioned herself in his right wing position at secretarial attention rather than military attention.
The prisoner seemed almost dazed at first, taking the room in as she entered before reluctantly sitting on the chair. Large for a woman and slightly taller than the Chief Engineer who stood a meager 165 cm. She had a certain mismatch of proportion between her body and limbs that made her look larger than she really was. She fiddled with a ring on the table meant to handcuff an interrogation target, the steel stressing against her thick, sharpened fingers. But after a moment, she suddenly froze in place, fingers steepled on the table in front of her, and leered at Calhound, her bright red irises boring into his face. Passive threat steamed from her, almost visibly, despite being as still as a strange interactive statue.
Sasha’s ‘fingers’ were gently interlaced, and her stance was even and balanced while Xaith slid into the cold steel chair. He unceremoniously drew the Daedalus Project folder from the envelope and tossed it onto the table. “I don’t have to tell you,” Xaith said reached into the envelope to draw out another folder, “what’s inside that folder.” The Daedalus folder itself was bland and indistinct save for two markings. The first read “Classified: Top Secret” and the second was the emblazoned winged wheel logo.
It was sufficient to show that he had it, let alone that he even knew about it, to make his point and to get her attention. “The folks at Daedalus, and I, were rivals,” Xaith said as the logo of his rivaling project flashed in his EEGARD. “You’re their creation. Sasha is mine. Her body is all that is left from Project Tethys.” As the name implied it the project’s goal was to produce something to replace humans from the battlefield, just as Tethys had no active role in the mythology she was created in. “The past I’m here to talk about doesn’t go that far back, but I did promise you an explanation, so there it is.” Xaith shrugged, and adjusted his glasses. “Now, why don’t you tell me why you’re here.”
Almost gargoyle-like, parts of the cyborg’s body came to life, to pull the folder towards her. She idly flipped through several paged, blinking at them in a neutral fashion until a single page made her stop and narrow her eyes. She seemed to be in thought for a few moments, but eventually closed the bundle of papers.
“I, ah, suppose I’m here for the same reason she is.” The cyborg said casually, gesturing at the artificial woman. “A plan to defeat the extra-terrestrial threat, someone’s passion and drive, to be replaced by a cowardly escape but never truly erased from the heart of the escapee.” Finally, she seemed to regain her ability of facial expression, and smiled lightly at the two. “The difference is the scale - Sasha is your passion, I am humanity’s. To forge their very will into a spear to drive into the heart of natural, universal destruction. To finally defeat nature, to overcome it, to master it, rein it in, control it.” She inhaled. “I am here because this passion will not be defeated by bureaucracy, cowardice or bad luck. My fate is tied to that of this ship.”
Her voice was tinted with a certain artificial echo, but its expressiveness made it sound as if she was just talking through a faulty radio connection, despite being in the same room. “But you are not here to hear my life’s story, Mr. Calhound. If you have kept this rivalry alive for some reason, know that you must act fast or you will not leave this room in one piece. Otherwise, you will have to explain what you want.”
The Sergeant First Class listened intently with his hands folded over the folder he had brought out when she began, and squared neatly before him while she spoke. He grimaced at the comparison Irons made between herself and Sasha. “Were,” he corrected her, reminding her of the tense in which he spoke. “You presume much about this droid–” to which he glanced at Sasha and acknowledging the errant signals warning of Protocol 2: Active in his EEGARD “–and my interest in you as an individual,” he followed up, while trying to get back on track. “The only part of your story I am presently interested in is how you came to be aboard this ship, and made a mess of my department.” The cyborg knitted her eyebrows in a puzzled fashion at these words.
It was Irons’ personnel file, the one that now rested between them on the table, and it contained not only the file she created as it was intended to be seen, but also a copy as he saw it. A copy brimming with red ink. The kind of red ink a child sees on a very badly written essay—as it’s returned by their language arts teacher—as the Sergeant First Class had made it a point to highlight all of the failings contained therein. Xaith pulled out the last page on the file, and set it atop everything else, as to demonstrate it was the only part of the file that mattered to him.
Irons’s ASPECT credentials were on a sticky note affixed to an interview report from Lt. Rorq. “Start here,” he said as he handed her the page, “and work backward. Tell me about this interview.”
The woman took the page, smirking while she skimmed it. But when she reached its end she blinked in puzzlement. “Why?” she raised her eyes at Calhound. “There is nothing to learn from this security breach. Almost all weaknesses and backdoors I used are only relevant on Earth, and the rest can only be utilized if for some reason we have a frozen traitor on board.”
“It may not be relevant to you,” Xaith responded, becoming visibly angry, “But it is relevant to me, and my team.” He leaned in and reached across the table slamming his finger down on Lt.Rorq’s name on the document. “It’s relevant to her.” With the slightest touch on his shoulder by Sasha, the chief of engineering regained his composure with almost mechanical speed and precision. “I’ll only ask this once. Did you interview with my second in command as your file suggests?”
The page was pushed back towards the man. “This is the point, Mr. Calhound, where you’ve overstepped the acceptable amount of threat you address towards me.” The prisoner said dryly. “You must now act upon it, or give me something to gain from cooperating with you. I will suggest getting Mr. TreVayne involved, although that may not be very convenient to you.”
She crossed her arms and leaned back, the chair creaking slightly under her weight. “You are not one of the people responsible for my fate, yet. I do not even know what you are doing here. And while you may say something about me appreciating this change of scenery,” she gestured at the walls of the interrogation room, “your interaction with the warden and his men will come at a price I will pay later. Make it worth my while, Mr. Calhound.”
Though he said nothing, the Chief of Engineering nodded in understanding. He took first the letter that was returned to him, and then the Daedalus project summary file. Still, without saying a single word, he placed the personnel file back in the folder, whilst handing the top secret material to Sasha to destroy. Sasha held the file between thumb and curled index finger and charged its pages with electricity until a slow, flameless incineration consumed the whole file. He stood up and made his way to the door, before pausing to ensure Sasha was in-tow before finally responding.
“I don’t need to threaten you, Ms. Irons,” he said more at the door than to her as he buzzed for the guards, “By never formally accepting my council, the guards felt they were allowed to record this entire interview, despite this being a textbook violation of attorney-client privilege. By allowing our meeting to conclude with your rejecting my offer of council, that video and this file will be entered into evidence against you.” He passed the file to Sasha, in part for safe keeping, but also in part for she knew what the procedure was for entering evidence. He made it a point to make eye contact with the cyborg prisoner as he did. “I don’t need to threaten you, Ms. Irons, because right now you’re a bigger threat to yourself than I could possibly be.”
The prisoner crossed her arms as the Chief of Engineering moved away from the table. His words hit home only after the warden had already unlocked the door. “Wait, legal council? Is this what all of this is!?” She jumped to her feet, immediately becoming the target of the warden’s gaze. This made her line of thought screech to a halt. She may not be very familiar with legal proceedings, but she knew politics, and her mind switched to damage control mode by itself. “This was the most convoluted offer of service I have ever witnessed. You barge into here, interfere with the work of Security, treat me like a hostage without offering a word of explanation, and then say I refuse? Of course I refuse.”
Xaith looked down to his badge which identified him as “Counsel for the Defense,” which had been fully visible the entire time. He then looked to Sasha’s which identified her as his legislative assets, before recollecting that he did explicitly state he came to help her in his introduction. He then turned from the warden to the prisoner. “So, to be clear, you are forfeiting your right to assisted self-advocacy? Or, are you requesting a court appointed attorney?”
“What right of advocacy?” she threw the warden a confused glance, then returned to leering at Xaith. “Are you suggesting I am on trial? We are in space! In a military vessel! You are the Chief of Engineering!” She threw up her hands. “Why would there be any kind of civilian process? I have openly admitted all ‘crimes’ that I committed in order to board this vessel, and as far as I can tell, the only thing standing in the way of my request is a physical and psychological examination.”
A slight twitch of the eyebrow escaped her self control. There was one other thing. The documents presented to her by the man in regard of Project Daedalus did not completely overlap with the ones she managed to steal - What Gavon now had was mainly technical data and evaluation reports. A chapter from what Xaith had was something far worse. A contingency plan was supposedly implanted in each Daedalus agent, to activate in case there would again be a split to factions in face of impending doom. In such a case, the factions would attempt to step on eachothers’ corpses in order to escape death - and the agents would use their power to defeat the other factions and ensure the survival of the NC, effectively using all weapons developed against aliens on their fellow men. She wasn’t sure if he had read this, and if he did, why he wasn’t using it as leverage.
Outwardly, she sighed, rubbing her eyebrows, then sat back down. “If you’re already here--”
“Back up,” SFC Calhound said in total shock. “You were arrested, and detained, without being notified of your rights?” The idea questioned the whole legitimacy of even the grounds on which she was being detained, and invalidated any prior confession given. Even though the ship had a high military presence it still operated under civilian law for civilians and martial law for military members, and both groups were afforded advocacy rights that must be stated by the arresting officers. “As your legal council, I am advising you not to say another word until I return. You'll be escorted back to your cell, and I will address your outstanding unlawful detainment.”
